BARNESVILLE — The Barnesville Alumni Banquet for 2020 has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the Barnesville Area Education Foundation’s Hall Of Fame inductees are being recognized for 2020. This year the Hall Of Fame inductees are Agnes Amos Timmons, who taught and coached at Barnesville High School for 32 years, and Sally Johnson McKenzie, a 1969 graduate of Barnesville High School.

Timmons, aka “Aggie,” graduated from Scio High School in 1942. She attended and graduated from Denison University in Granville, Ohio, in 1946. She also completed a bachelor’s plus, with special education emphasis, at Ohio University (Belmont Branch, the current Eastern campus). She was a celebrated and admired teacher, coach and resident of Barnesville.

Those who knew her say Timmons was determined to be successful in any activity she became involved with. As an example, she worked diligently and championed equal sports opportunities for high school girls, until Title IX was enacted in June 1972. She was popular and admired by the girls she coached, many of whom became lifelong friends. Timmons was very involved with volunteering at Barnesville Hospital, singing in the choir, serving as a deacon, as a trustee, helping at nursing homes and senior centers. Timmons retired from coaching in 1991; however, even today, she remains a legend in Barnesville and within the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference.

Timmons started coaching pickup girls’ basketball teams at Barnesville High School in 1946 when there were no school-sanctioned girls’ programs for member schools of the OVAC. She was a girls’ physical education teacher and considered it part of her job to organize whatever athletic teams she could because she wanted the girls to have some competition and experience the fun of playing organized sports. She would join with teachers from other schools in the area interested in doing the same thing to schedule games. They also had to hire their own officials and provide transportation to the game sites.

Timmons left teaching after 1948 to begin raising a family. After having four children, she returned to her teaching and coaching career at Barnesville in 1962. She coached volleyball and basketball even though it wasn’t until June 1972 that Title IX was enacted, demanding equal sports opportunities for girls. She was asked by then-OVAC Executive Secretary Sam Mumley to host and serve as director of the first OVAC volleyball championship tournament, which was held at Barnesville High.

Timmons coached basketball and track until well into the 1980s, but continued her duties with the volleyball team until her retirement from teaching in 1991. In addition, she co-coached the Ohio University Eastern volleyball teams when she was well into her 80s.

Timmons died June 16, 2018. She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband of 62 years, Kenneth W. Timmons, and her brothers. She is survived by four children, Michael D. (Gail) Timmons of Davisville, West Virginia; Thomas P. (Tyra) Timmons of Steubenville; Susan T. (Bruce) Busler of Maryville, Illinois; and Shelly J. (Louis) Richardson of Colorado Springs, Colorado. In addition, she has 10 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.